AN ASSOCIATION TRIES TO SAVE THE ESSAOUIRA CHRISTIAN CEMETERY
Created four years ago, the association for the restoration and maintenance of the Christian cemetery of Essaouira (Arecce) has allowed the graves to be visible again. The problem of sand is not new, but it has increased considerably over the past ten years. Whether it is Father Jean-Claude, priest of the parish of Essaouira, the Water and Forest Service or the scientists, all agree on the increase of the north winds which brings the sand from the dunes of Bouzarktoune to the coast of the north of the city.
The team of the association makes every effort to remove the sand, the one that settles in the cemetery but also the one that piles up along the wall separating the cemetery from the Atlantic Ocean. Pierre, a Senegalese Christian, is hired every week for two missions: to water the green spaces of the cemetery and to remove the sand between the graves. And even if the mission seemed lost in advance, he assures him: "Thanks to the association, the cemetery is less and less silted up".
Despite the good intentions of the new municipality since 2021 and the commitment of Jamal, municipal employee responsible for the cemetery, this is not easy to implement, because the sand belongs to the State. It therefore requires special authorizations for everything that concerns it. The Water and Forests Department is facing an upsurge in thefts of branches used to fix the dunes. The price of wood having soared in recent months, wood has become a highly sought-after commodity, particularly for lime manufacturers.
But for Gilles Texier, president of the association, nothing is impossible. The de-silting of the cemetery requires meticulous maintenance and therefore support from the entire community to assume the costs. And when you pass your head through the next door, the Jewish cemetery regularly visited by tourists manages to extract the sand which comes back tirelessly. What if tourism, Essaouira's main economy, was also the cemetery's solution?
